


Last Train Home

by AgustinaPrasanti



Series: Here be Dragons [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Dogs, Gen, Ghosts, I Don't Even Know, School Work, a man and his dog - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-18
Updated: 2016-02-18
Packaged: 2018-05-21 11:07:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6049324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgustinaPrasanti/pseuds/AgustinaPrasanti
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every day Mary would see that dog standing in front of the station, almost as though he was waiting for someone...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Last Train Home

**Author's Note:**

> Hello~  
> It's been a while since I've actually posted anything anywhere...  
> This was written for an English Assignment. So sorry if it sucks...  
> Anyway, if you couldn't guess from the summary, it's blatantly inspired by Hachiko.

Mary went to school by train. Every day was spent fighting for a spot in the speeding, air conditioned sardine can. It was somewhat stressful, she had to admit. But she was used to it, and could now almost ignore the feeling of being crushed by the masses.

Every day she went to and from school, she would see a dog sitting in front of the station. Nobody else seemed to pay attention to him, so she decided to leave it at that. She'd never been one to get into something that didn't involve herself.

But she would say that it was odd. The dog wasn't some mangy mutt. It was a beautiful golden retriever. A dog like that would surely have been taken by someone. Dogs like that were very expensive around there.

One day, during the weekend, Mary's mother sent her out to get some groceries. It just so happened that the store was right next to the train station. And just like every day before, she saw the dog sitting at his usual place, right in front of the station's door. The station was empty, save for the lone dog, and perhaps the station master.

Her mother had given her more than enough money, so Mary decided to buy a plain hotdog and gave it to the retriever. It didn't seem to notice her, or the food, which was odd as well. And since her mother was expecting her back at any moment, Mary decided to just leave the hotdog nearby and went back home.

The next day, Mary managed to wake up earlier than usual. She was glad that she didn't have to worry about being late for once. The dog was still there, as per usual, but the hotdog was gone. Perhaps he had eaten it.

But then she was approached by the stationmaster. He asked her why she'd just put a hotdog in front of the station yesterday. And Mary said that she was trying to feed the dog since he looked to be quite hungry.

But the stationmaster just looked at her with a confused expression.

"What dog?" He asked.

"The dog sitting right in front of the station," Mary answered.

"There aren't any dogs here, Mary," The Stationmaster said.

"Of course there is, he's standing right there!" Mary insisted.

"There was a dog years ago, but no dogs today," He said.

This intrigued the girl, so she asked, "Really?"

The stationmaster nodded, and began to tell the story.

There was once a professor who lived nearby. He was like Mary, in that every day he went to work by train. He also used to have a dog. A golden retriever he'd named Ben. Every day, Ben would see his master off when he went to work, and would pick him up every time he went home. But one day, when he was just about to go home, the professor died of a heart attack. Ben kept on waiting for him to come home, even after the professor's family had moved far away. And through seasons the dog kept waiting, until one day he'd died as well.

Hearing the story, Mary realized that she was now seeing the ghost of Ben. Even after death he kept waiting for his master.

Mary felt sad. She wanted to help the dog meet with his master once more. But what could she do? She was just a normal person.

The thought kept bothering her throughout the day. And when she went to go home, she'd realized too late that she'd missed her stop. Getting off with a grumble, she wondered how she was going to get home. It was rather late, since she'd spent a lot of the day in the library, and no one was there.

But then she saw a man. He looked to be middle-aged with salt and pepper hair. He was sitting on a bench, seeming to be waiting for a train.

Well, he seemed to be going in the same direction as Mary, so she decided to sit next to him. She was just going to sit there quietly until the train came. But it seemed the man had other ideas.

"Rare for someone to be waiting here at this hour," He said.

Mary wasn't sure whether or not she should answer.

"The university kids don't usually like to loiter around until this late," He continued, "That, or they just seem to think riding the train is 'uncool'."

"Do you work there?" Mary asked.

"Well, I used to," The man answered, "I don't anymore, but I just like coming by here, you know?"

"I heard that a professor from that university died here," Mary all but blurted out.

"Yes. Professor Shorne was his name. Swell guy he was, I heard," The man said, "How did you know about him, if you don't mind me asking?"

Mary fidgeted a bit, "I heard about his dog."

"Oh? What about his dog?"

"He's still waiting for his master to come home. He's been sitting in that same spot in front of the station for years and years. It's rather sad, don't you think?"

She caught a glimpse of something odd in the man's eye, "Really, now? Is he still waiting, even now?"

Mary berated herself for using the wrong tense, but when she saw the look the man wore, she couldn't help but answer the truth, "Yes... He is."

Just then, the train rolled in to the station.

"You should get going now. Wouldn't want you to be late," The man said.

Mary wondered why the man wasn't getting in as well, but kept quiet about it and just said a farewell.

The next day, she came by to the station by the university. Again she saw the man sitting on the bench. She decided to sit with him again.

"Stopped at the wrong station again?" He asked when she sat down.

"I wanted to talk to you," She answered.

The man looked surprised, but had a warm smile all the same, "And what is it this time?"

"I..." Mary hesitated for a second, "Can I tell you something?"

The man gestured for her to go on.

"Well. This is going to sound crazy, but..." She began, "But the dog. Professor Shorne's dog. He... He died a few years ago. But I still see him. His ghost, I mean. He's still waiting, even after death."

"I want to help him, but I don't know how," She finished.

The man was quiet for a while.

Then, he said, "You know, most ghosts can't stay in this world for very long. They always have to have some sort of anchor to stay here."

"You seem to know a lot about this," Mary remarked.

The man's answer was vague, "You could say I... have some experience with this sort of thing."

"Hey, can you help him?" Mary asked, "I think Ben can only move on if he sees his master, can you... I dunno. Do something?"

The man pursed his lips and thought for a while. And then he nodded and said, "Of course. Just bring his anchor to me, and I'll do the rest."

"How do I know if that thing's his anchor?"

The man gave her an odd smile, "You'll know it when you see it. Trust me."

So for the next few days, Mary spent her time looking aroundnthe station for anything that could be the anchor. But try as she might, she couldn't find anything that could be the anchor to a ghost dog. She was starting to loose hope.

But the one day, she decided to search behind the station. There was a pile of garbage there that nobody seemed to want to clean up. The perfect place to find something old and forgotten. She just hadn't bothered looking there since Ben always sat in front of the station.

While looking through the pile of rubbish, Mary cane across something that made her freeze. It was a rusty old dog collar, the name on the tag far from eligible. But somehow, in the back of her mind, she just knew that it belonged to Ben.

And sure enough, she heard a dog growling. She turned and saw Ben, growling at her with such ferocity she'd only seen on the neighbor's doberman.

She raised her hands in an attempt to placate him, "Easy there."

The dog kept growling at her.

"I'm taking you to see your master," Mary wondered the use of trying to reason with the ghost dog, but just kept on talking, "If you calm down, I'll take you to see Professor Shorne. I promise. I just need your collar."

The dog seemed to understand her, for he stopped growling. But he still kept looking at her in an odd way. It was sort of unnerving to see such intelligence in the eyes of a dog.

Mary nodded to herself, "Alright. Let's go."

The train ride to the university was very awkward. Mary couldn't stop fidgeting even when Ben seemed to not be focusing on her again. In fact, he seemed to be rather complacent.

She didn't know what possessed her, but without thinking, Mary had moved to pet the dog. To her surprise, her hand came onto soft fur. Ben seemed to like the attention and kept leaning into her hand, despite the earlier animosity. Deciding that there was no harm to be had, Mary continued to pet him.

When the train arrived, Mary spotted the man sitting on his usual bench. Except he now looked to be much happier.

Ben barked and all but ran to the man. In turn, the man dropped down to his knee and engulfed the dog in a hug. Ben licked his face many times, and the man only laughed in elation.

It then occurred to Mary just who the man was.

"I knew you could do it, kid," Professor Shorne said to her, eyes more than glassy with tears.

"I... It's no problem," Was all Mary could answer, since she was a bit stunned.

Then the professor stood and moved towards her. He then crouched down and hugged the girl. She was surprised to find him shaking, and realized that he was crying. A bit nervous, the girl circled her arms around the professor and returned the hug.

He then pulled back, and Mary let him.

"Well, we'd better be on our way," Professor Shorne said.

"Yeah," Mary nodded.

Just then, she noticed a train wheeling into the station.

"Well, that's our ride. Just in time, too," The Professor said.

"It was nice to meet you," He said when the train had stopped, "And thanks again. I mean it."

"You're welcome," Mary answered with a smile.

As soon as the two got on, the train wheeled out of the station. Mary watched then until the train faded into the horizon. And she too, hopped on the next train and went back home.

A couple of weeks later, Mary walked with the old collar in hand. She was at the town graveyard. She read the names on the tombstones as she passed them. Until at last she came upon the one she was looking for.

Prof. Adrien Shorne, was the name written on it.

As gentle as she could, Mary crouched down and placed the collar in front of the tombstone. She wasn't sure if the groundskeeper would throw it away or not, but it just felt right to her to reunite the two like this. She then decided that it didn't matter either way, as she prayed for the master and dog that were sure to be happy in heaven.

And that simple thought brought a smile to her face.


End file.
